Sports Therapy Tips for Hips

 At CardioFlex Therapy’s outpatient clinic we offer sports therapy, which helps top athletes not only recover from injuries (rehab) but also prevent them (known as pre-hab). Sports therapy is a segment of the global healthcare industry that has recently become quite popular due to its applications and positive results in sports.

The hips are the human body’s main engine and center of mass. The largest and most powerful muscle groups—the glutes, quads, and hamstrings—all connect at the hips, and they allow you to run, jump, climb, and swim. The joint is crucial to all movement, in sports and day-to-day life. Persistent hip pain can be very debilitating, we will concentrate on how physical therapy can seriously impact this part of our body.

While the following may be common causes of hip pain in athletes, there are other causes of hip pain that can sideline a player from the action:

• Muscle Strains: The most common injuries of the hip and groin region in athletes are muscle strain injuries. Muscles around the hip joint are especially prone to this type of injury because they are subject to eccentric contraction. Eccentric contractions cause tremendous forces in the muscle and can lead to a muscle strain. Muscle strains around the hip include groin pulls and hamstring strains.
• Hip Bursitis: Inflammation of the bursa over the outside of the hip joint, so-called trochanteric bursitis, can cause pain with hip movement. Treatment of hip bursitis is often effective, but the condition has a problem of coming back and sometimes becoming a persistent problem.
• Contusions (Hip Pointer): A direct blow to the outside of the hip causes an injury to one of the large bones of the pelvis, the ileum. When a contusion is sustained in an athlete over the outside of the hip, the injury is called a hip pointer.
• Stress Fractures: Stress fractures of the hip are usually seen in long-distance runners, and much more commonly in women than in men. These injuries are usually seen in endurance athletes with deficient nutrition or eating disorders.
• Hip Labral Tear: The labrum of the hip is a cuff of thick tissue that surrounds the hip socket. The labrum helps to support the hip joint. When a labral tear of the hip occurs, a piece of this tissue can become pinched in the joint causing pain and catching sensations. Much more has been learned about hip labral tears, to the point that some orthopedic surgeons are concerned these injuries are overdiagnosed. However, some patients with hip labral tears can find improvement with treatment of this condition.
• Femoroacetabular Impingement: Femoroacetablar impingement, often referred to as FAI, is a condition where bone spurs form along the edges of the ball-and-socket hip joint and cause limited mobility of the joint and damage to soft tissues including the labrum. FAI is thought by many surgeons to be a precursor to arthritis of the hip joint.
• Osteitis Pubis: Osteitis pubis is thought to be due to the repetitive pull of muscles over the front of the hip joint. Usually, pain is activity related and often seen in runners, soccer players and hockey players. The x-rays may show signs causing concern for infection, but osteitis pubis usually resolves with rest and anti-inflammatory medications.
• Sports Hernias: Sports hernias are a problem seen most commonly in hockey players, but can be seen in other sports that require repetitive twisting and turning at high speeds. The problem is thought to be due to an imbalance of the strong muscles of the thigh and the relatively weaker muscles of the abdomen.
• Snapping Hip Syndrome: Snapping hip syndrome is a word used to describe three distinct hip problems. The first is when the IT band snaps over the outside of the thigh. The second occurs when the deep hip flexor snaps over the front of the hip joint. Finally, tears of the cartilage, or labrum, around the hip socket can cause a snapping sensation.
• Traumatic Hip Subluxation & Dislocation: Complete dislocation of the hip joint is a very unusual hip injury—most commonly hip dislocations occur in high-speed car crashes. However, hip subluxations, an injury where the ball of the ball-and-socket hip joint is pushed part of the way out of joint, are being recognized as a possible cause of hip pain in athletes. A hip subluxation is the type of injury that is thought to have ended Bo Jackson’s athletic career.
• Hip Arthritis: Arthritis of the hips is increasingly seen in athletes as the age in which we participate in sports increases. Older athletes can experience joint stiffness and pain as a result of hip arthritis.
• Low Back Strain: While not a problem in the hip region, low back problems can often cause pain around the buttock and hips.

For serious athletes, a person recovering from an injury or anyone with a specific performance goal in mind, a visit to a Physical Therapist can increase awareness of weakness, asymmetry or problem areas and give you tangible, functional ways to improve.

The most common steps during an athlete’s visit to our clinic are:

• – sports massage
• – sports and occupational injury management & rehabilitation
• – ultrasound therapy treatment
• – sports performance improvement & management using muscle activation techniques
• – advice on how to improve posture, flexibility & stretching

 For more info visit: www.cardioflextherapy.com